Lag B’Omer
In temple religious school, our teacher said that in Israel many people light bonfires on Lag B’Omer. She couldn’t really give the reason why they do that. Could you please explain the significance of lighting bonfires on Lag B’Omer?
Kaddish for Gaza Slain
I’m sure you read about the controversy in England recently when a group of Jews got together to recite the kaddish for the 61 people killed in Gaza by the IDF during their “March of Return” protests, despite the fact that 50 of them are known to be Hamas operatives. The response of the “reciters” of the kaddish was that, although they might belong to Hamas, they’re still human beings and their deaths are still a tragedy and deserve a kaddish recited for them, and if it was Israelis who were slain then they would have said kaddish for them as well. Personally, I’m torn because I agree that any loss of human life is a tragedy, but the kaddish part somehow doesn’t sound right to me but I’m not sure why. Any thoughts?
Kabbalah, Gematria, Holiness (and Maimonides)
I recently heard a class which left me very confused. The instructor, who claimed to be an orthodox rabbi, spoke about Maimonides’ rejection of Mysticism. Among the mystical ideas that he supposedly rejected was that:
The Hebrew language is intrinsically holy [citing the Talmud and Mishna as being against this, i.e. the concept of gematria, etc.]
The Jewish people are a holy nation
The Torah or mitzvot contain any intrinsic holiness, [there’s no intrinsic difference between the Torah and Shakespeare]
The Land of Israel has any intrinsic holiness. He taught that to believe any of the above is idolatrous since it is assigning godliness to things that don’t have it, which is precisely why Maimonides waged a war against these ideas which are truly foreign to traditional Judaism.
So perhaps you could clarify:
Are the above ideas mystical/idolatrous ideas?
Was Maimonides really against mysticism, [as was the Talmud, according to this presenter]?
Loving Our Fellow Jew
I’ve been very disturbed by the brazen murders taking place by terrorists in Israel, seemingly without end. I can’t help but think we’re being punished by the terrible discord between fellow Jews in Israel with all the rioting and terrible attacks from one Jew to another. What do you think about this?
Shabbos Nachamu
Can you please explain the meaning of Shabbat Nachamu? I heard in a class that there are three weeks of Haftara portions leading up to the day of Tisha B’av and then seven weeks of portions of comforting, starting with Nachamu. Why would there be so many more weeks of comforting, and how could we be comforted immediately after the destruction of our people? Could you please provide some explanation or meaning to this period; it would be appreciated!